New $89 open-source hardware runs full Linux OS

An open-source hardware group on Monday announced a US$89 credit-card sized motherboard based on an ARM processor that could be used for robotics, gaming and medical devices.

BeagleBoard’s BeagleBone development board is targeted at the open-source hardware community, which includes hobbyists and engineers writing code for hardware with open-source specifications. Some BeagleBoard projects include bringing Linux-based Android and Ubuntu operating systems to its hardware.

The BeagleBone runs a full version of Linux and a full-featured web server, BeagleBoard said in a statement. The board is based on Texas Instruments’ $5 Sitara AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 processor, which can deliver 720MHz of performance. TI announced the processor on Monday.